Samsung Opens Up on Design

Samsung opened up about its design strategy at the IFA electronics trade fair in Berlin following the launch of the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch and the phablet Galaxy Note 3.

IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin on Friday.

Bloomberg News

Six Samsung design executives held a presentation and panel discussion Friday on the sidelines of the congress. While there were attempts to dazzle with images of Samsung’s design inspiration–red wine pouring into a glass for a new line of televisions, a leaping ballet dancer for the latest vacuum cleaner–the discussion revealed Samsung’s design process to be somewhat more cerebral than aesthetic.

The company has six design centers in different regions globally to research consumers needs and behaviors, and, as Samsung’s European design strategy chief Dean Butcher said, “it’s a lot of analysis.”

“The design process is not just about ‘OK, let’s design a refrigerator, what do we need to do?’–it’s over a long period of time,” Mr. Butcher said.

The process involves analyzing cultural developments in Asia compared to the U.S. or Europe, according to Mr. Butcher, and asking “How is that really affecting people? How is that changing people? How is media influencing what people are doing and the way they respond to things?”

“Samsung has always placed a great deal of emphasis on design, I guess we just talk about it more and more now these days,” he added.

Over the past few years, Samsung has emerged from the long shadow of iPhone and iPad maker Apple Inc. to become the world’s largest producer of both mobile-phones and smartphones–offering devices in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

Friday’s panel offered insights into the South Korean manufacturer’s design processes–the company revealed the Galaxy Gear went though “several hundred designs” before a decision on the final one, while the Samsung Galaxy S3 had around 400 mock-ups. Samsung’s design bosses also talked about product materials, explaining the outer cover of the Galaxy S3 is designed to mimic the experiences in nature like the feeling of pebbles.

The event also touched on so-called digital appliances: a Food Showcase refrigerator with compartments for different “zones” for raw ingredients, ready-to-eat food, and drinks, as well as a new vacuum cleaner, the Motion Sync.

While acknowledging the vacuum cleaner and refrigerator will be a “little bit more expensive than what’s out there,” Joong-yeol Choi, vice president of digital appliance design, declined to give the products’ prices.